Christmas 2014

Ummmm… yeah, this post is super late!!! I actually wrote it a couple of weeks ago, but thanks to my computer taking a New Year’s hiatus, I wasn’t able to access any of my pictures or upload any new ones. The good news is everything is fixed now, the bad news is its the middle of January and I’m still talking about Christmas! If you’ve had your fill, please disregard this post, but I still wanted to post if for for documenting purposes for my family. Anyway, on to the post!

Hello there! Happy 2015! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! We had such a fun holiday season this year with Brynlee. She really made Christmas magical again for us! It’s amazing how wonderful the festivities are when you are seeing them through your child’s eyes.

*I made these Salt Dough Ornaments for all the Grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle. They were so easy to make and were such a hit! Everyone loved them!

This year we had 3 Christmases and one Christmas Eve celebration. The first of our Christmases was spent with my family the Saturday before Christmas. My Dad was traveling out of state this Christmas so we decided to have it early and I have to admit, it was kind of nice. We weren’t rushed (although I still wish we would have had more time together, but that’s how it always goes), we really got to enjoy each other and best of all, we didn’t have to make the drive to Prescott on Christmas or Christmas Eve. Traffic is always so much worse on the holidays!

*These blocks are one of her favorite new toys, I can’t tell you how many towers we’ve built since Christmas!

Then on Christmas Eve we headed over to Landon’s Aunt’s house for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. Their whole family shows up so it is always fun to see everyone and for a chance for all the cousins to get together. Landon’s family is huge and unfortunately we don’t get to see everyone often so celebrations like these are always a lot of fun. Santa even came to visit with one of his elves and passed out gifts to all of the kids. Much like our Santa picture experience, Brynlee did not like Santa… I’m hoping things will be better next year, but I’ve been told I probably have another year or two of this.

*Yeah…

*Not surprising, she loved the Christmas Tree

*These little gingerbread men were at Landon’s aunts and Brynlee had a lot of fun playing with them.

Christmas morning we spent at home and it was wonderful!!! This is the first Christmas we have ever spent at our own home and it was so nice to create memories and new traditions with our little family! Brynlee had a lot of fun playing with her new kitchen, I was amazed at how accurately she was using it. I made cinnamon rolls the day before that I just reheated so we were able to have a nice lazy morning enjoying our time together. That night we made a seafood dinner of lemon garlic shrimp served over a spinach basil pasta and mussels in a garlic butter sauce paired with some delicious wine we’ve been saving since our last trip to Temecula. It was so good!!! I’m pretty sure we are going to make seafood a tradition for Christmas dinner at our house. At my family’s house we always do the traditional ham and potatoes with yummy comfort food sides, at my in-laws we always do Italian, so this will be a nice change and something different to set our dinner apart. Brynlee loved the shrimp! The mussels, not so much, but there is always next time!

*We had so much fun setting everything up Christmas Eve!!!

*Last minute I decided Brynlee needed a little dish towel to go with her kitchen. I think it turned out so cute!

*Up bright and early on Christmas morning at 7:00… wonder how much longer we will get away with sleeping in til then???

The Friday after Christmas, we headed back up north to spend Christmas with Landon’s family. It was such a nice visit, we didn’t have anything else planned so the whole 2 days we were up there was spent relaxing and enjoying our time together! And that is what I really love about the holidays. It seems like we all get so busy in our day to day lives that we can sometimes go a week without talking, but when the holidays come around everyone carves time out of their busy schedules to just slow down and we can all appreciate the time we have with each other.

*This shopping cart is amazing!!! Brynlee has had so much fun with it! Sorry for the blurry photo, but as soon as Landon put it together, she couldn’t be stopped!

*Brynlee has loved playing with this shape puzzle, as well as, the animal one (similar) pictured in the back. And she is really good at them too!

Since being home, Brynlee has had no shortage of toys to play with. At first I think she was a little overwhelmed and couldn’t decide what to play with and when. I think it is definitely time for a toy clean out in our household. As for New Year’s, we spent a quiet evening at home, although our neighborhood was not so quiet, fireworks were going off all night long and I just prayed that Brynlee would sleep through it all, thankfully she did! I did not make it to midnight, just because it is New Year’s does not guarantee Brynlee sleeping in and it just isn’t worth staying up anymore… am I getting old??? Lol!

*My friend Paula got Brynlee this giant Mickey Mouse and wow! Does she love it!!! I wish I would have gotten a picture of the look on her face when she first saw him! Priceless!!!

What did you do for the holidays? I’m looking for new traditions to add in next year, any suggestions?